Nuggets try to get up off the mat against Utah

Three times in the last three games, the Nuggets have fallen to the mat.

Another loss, and they will be down for the count.

After opening the 2010 playoffs with a victory over the Utah Jazz, the Nuggets find themselves one game from elimination, trailing the best-of-seven series 3-1 heading into Game 5 Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.

Acting coach Adrian Dantley described the locker room during Monday’s film session “like a funeral,” but he hasn’t lost faith in a team that won the Northwest Division despite being given up for dead late in the regular season.

“If we win, we'll feel a lot better Wednesday,” he said. “I think we're going to win Wednesday. It’s funny that I would never believe that Utah would beat us three games in a row. That's just what I felt. We beat them three out of four during the regular season. They beat us three out of four (in the playoffs). So, maybe it might be our turn.”

Confidence, momentum and style-of-play certainly favors Utah as the Nuggets try to climb back into the series. The Jazz are averaging 112.3 points on 51.8 percent shooting. Equally telling are their 25.8 assists per game, which are a reflection of their ball movement and execution in the half-court offense.

“There’s a style that we like to play – that’s up and down, running and kind of playing,” Denver point guard Chauncey Billups said. “They’re a half-court basketball team, and the half-court team is winning right now. You can look at any series and whoever’s winning the series, you can probably safely say that team is imposing their will on the series.”

Billups will draw upon experience as Denver tries to overcome long odds. He was with the Detroit Pistons when they erased a 3-1 deficit against Orlando in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. Detroit is one of eight teams in NBA history to pull off such an escape.

“The key is you’ve got to win here (Wednesday), and put all the pressure on them to win Game 6,” Billups said. “You go down there (to Salt Lake City) and play balls to the wall and you (win) a Game 6, they’re not going to want to come back here for Game 7. It’s hard to do, but I’ve done it. I know it can be done.”

Both Billups and Dantley agreed that two keys to a comeback are moving the ball and playing together. After recording 29 assists in its lone victory in Game 1, Denver has managed just 47 assists (15.7) in three games since.

Billups said Denver’s offensive system doesn’t naturally produce big assist numbers because of the large number of isolation sets, but the Nuggets still had 20-plus assists in 51 of 82 regular-season games. Their record in those games was 44-7, compared to 9-22 when having less than 20 assists.

The frustration reached an apex in Game 4 as the Nuggets finished with 13 assists and 18 turnovers. Forward Carmelo Anthony (39 points) lamented that he can’t win a game – let alone a series – by himself, while guard J.R. Smith used his Twitter account to criticize the team’s “selfish” play.

Asked if there were signs of a fractured locker room, Billups refused to bite.

“I’m not really seeing it, man,” he said. “It’s frustrating to lose. People can really say what they want, but at any rate, when we win, we win together. I don’t think we’ve been specifically ‘selfish.’ ”

Dantley also downplayed the suggestion that dissention is starting to affect the Nuggets.

“When you lose, you feel bad. You say some funny things, say negative things,” Dantley said. “But the main thing I told the guys is just stay together. Just win Wednesday.”

Dantley planned to visit with head coach George Karl before Game 5. Karl is recovering from throat and neck cancer and hopes to return to the bench if Denver can somehow get out of the first round.

At this point, Billups isn’t looking that far ahead.

“We’ve got enough motivation,” he said. “It’s just time to play. It’s time to put everything aside and just play ball and not worry about who’s here, who’s not here, what we should do, what we talk about doing. All of that is over with. It’s just time to play ball, man.”

In other words, it’s time to answer an important question: Just how quick are you gonna get up?